I just wanted to give everyone here a big thank you!
Several months ago I started making these hybrid holsters and not knowing any better I headed off to the local Tandy and picked up some leather and a couple of bottles of Eco Flo all in one. The holsters turned out pretty good and I liked the finish....at first. After a couple of months of wear the finish looked really beat up. So, back to Tandy for a better dye, Fiebings black, and after giving that a try was less than pleased with the results. The leather was hard as a rock after drying and the first time I bent it it left wrinkles all throughout the leather. Back to Tandy and I get a recommendation to use Carnauba creme as the finish. So, tested that on some scrap, and things got a little better.
I thought there had to be a forum out there that had knowledgeable leather workers that could give me some ideas. So, after finding you guys I have spent the last week devouring everything on here and have seen the error of my ways. Here is the end result: The leather has been dyed, lexoled, buffed to remove the excess dye, top coated with a 50/50 mix of m&g, and then hand rubbed neutral kiwi shoe polish. While this is new and I have not seen how well it will wear over time, I can already see that the finish is much nicer and seems like it will be much more durable.
So, here it is all done:
Kahr 9/40 Hybrid Holster by Jacam2002, on Flickr
There are other holsters on my flickr if anyone is interested. The only problem is that now that I'm here, I'm kind of hooked and want to try my hand at a full molded all leather holster
Thanks again,
J
